hi, my names Robert, while volunteerng at a zoo for college i got 2 peacock eggs, ive had em in an incubator, but the temp has varied high and low in places, theyre sideways on an egg turner and i rotate them 2 times a day, my humidities been pretty spotty but i see tons of veins in the eggs. today is day 19.. on what day do i stop turning? do i keep the rotator going? or just stop spinning them by hand? and what day should they hatch? (they should be blues) thanks for yall's help

Dylan's Mom

Joined: 12 Feb 2011
Posts: 41
Location: PA

Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 9:13 am

Hi Robert! They can hatch anywhere from day 26 to day 28 and sometimes even later if the heat in the bator was on the low side. I always stop all turning(rotator also) on day 25 and mine consistantly hatch on day 27. Once you stop the turning you need to really watch that humidity, I like to keep mine really high during hatching to keep the chicks from getting stuck to dried out membranes inside the egg. Like, 85%-90% high. Good Luck!

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 11:23 am

so i just keep all the resivours filled with water? i have a little giant system?

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 3:53 pm

In normal conditions peachicks will hatch in TWENTY SIX days but I had some twenty nine
day peachicks that were incubated on chilly earth under a small chicken. They had some
messy navals, too.

When peachick is ready to begin hatching the veins can no longer be seen with candler
or are very hard to see. If the peachick is white or a breed that is pale color the veins
will show up much more than if the peachick is dark colored.

LISTEN to your eggs--hold egg against you ear. Once membrane is broken by egg tooth
and peachick is breathing it may peep or you may hear it pecking shell. This can occur
a day or two before it comes out.

If peachick's head is in wrong place (malposition) it will NEVER pip and never take first
breath unless assisted. This does take practice but I have a 50% chance or better
of saving such peachicks. Without this assistance 100% of malpositioned peachicks will
die in egg.

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 9:15 pm

how will i know if it is in malposition?

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 9:22 am

mustang wrote:

how will i know if it is in malposition?

A wise question is the first step on the road to wisdom
but. sadly, "experience is what you get just AFTER you needed it"

There are several different positions covered by word "malposition" and most are fatal
without intervention. There are even combinations of malposition such as head outside
wing and head on left side. (normal baby chicken and peafowl heads are on right side
and under wing) Two years ago my lovely spirited pet, Thornbush, had this combination
AND the worst naval of any peachick that actually lived to become a peacock.

But "head between the legs" does sometimes show when candling as the airspace being
very diagonal. But sometimes an egg will fool even a person with great experience...
with the good news being that opening egg very carefully two days before hatch date
will not harm a normal peachick. The vital piece of information is do NOT cause bleeding.
But if the head is between legs a bit of blood must be lost. That head must be found and
brought out leaving peachick's body in the halfshell--because the rescue procedure works
best when started two days BEFORE peachick is due to hatch. But sometimes a peachick
will survive when rescued at hatching time if it managed to get a bit of air. Every bird is
different and each is worth your best effort to hatch it alive

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 5:28 pm

how does one correctly open he eggs? (without harming the chick, or hurting it)

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 6:56 pm

mustang wrote:

how does one correctly open he eggs? (without harming the chick, or hurting it)

OK, you have candled the egg can see the pointed end of the egg dark because the body
of chick is there and you can see the empty air space at big end of egg. You have held
egg against your ear and NOT heard chick peeping or pecking due to head being locked
between the legs. But even if chick is OK breaking egg correctly two or three days before
hatching time will not hurt chick if you are careful to not make it bleed.
For a beginner a good tool is the DULL edge of a table knife tapping the very center of
the airspace--as far from the chick as possible. But after years of experience I will use
a sharp point and make a hole near but not touching the body of chick. After making
small hole I use candler to look inside.
If chick really is in trouble (you can not see beak or head and no hole has been pecked
in the membrane) slowly carefully remove the shell from big end of egg leaving a bit of
it so that you do not tear membrane. If chick is alive the membrane will be as white as
snow but if chick died a few days ago that membrane will be transparent.
OK, you are looking at a pure white membrane and hoping that you will see a bit of
movement. Put a few drops of warm water on the membrane and suddenly it will
become transparent so you can see any blood vessels that are still active and try to
figure out where the head is. Perhaps the head is under the right wing where it belongs.
But if it is hiding between legs or on left side or worst of all you could be looking at a
chick backwards in egg but this seldom happens.
Assuming you found a head between legs chick. You will have to tear membrane while
avoiding large visible blood vessels, get chick by neck and bring head out from between
legs. Then leave chick in halfshell untill it wants to fight its way out. The rear of chick
may be attached to shell with a very bloody umbilical and it is fatal to break it too soon.
.......by now you are hoping you will not need to break eggshell.

This afternoon Thornbush whacked my legs from behind. I yelled "BAD" three times and
he stood there with his head down. I knew that I was going to have a bad bird when I
saw him still under the white membrane

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 11:03 pm

okay, because its been hard for me to candle em recently, so on day 24 if it's hard to see anything but the big dark mass that isnt the air sack, does that mean the chick is fine?

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 6:47 am

mustang wrote:

okay, because its been hard for me to candle em recently, so on day 24 if it's hard to see anything but the big dark mass that isnt the air sack, does that mean the chick is fine?

hmmmm....... a dark egg can mean a peachick. If it you do not see any movement
along the line between body and airsack the baby may be sleeping-- OR --dead or you
might have a rotten egg. Sometimes a rotten egg will explode when a person breaks it.
If the head is between legs there will be no head movement but the the end of neck that
joins the body may move a tiny bit as chick tries to move head. ( it can NEVER do it
without help)
You can break shell in the middle of air sac. First crack it with the dull knife, Then use
pointed knife or ice pick to remove ttiny bits of shell. You can keep doing that until all
shell over air sac is gone but leaving a margin around the chick so that you do not
accidentally knick that membrane which will be white on a live chick or one that died
very recently. Put a few drops of warm water on membrane to make it transparent if
you do not see a head or beak. If you see large blood vessels you are between
"a rock and a hard place" if head really is between legs. You are still hoping it is
hiding under the RIGHT wing but it can be under left one. If head is OUTSIDE wing
this can be more serious than it should be sometimes bad swelling of neck comes with
this--but if chick lives this swelling goes away in a few days.
>>Remember---LEAVE CHICK IN HALFSHELL until naval is closed and the big blood
vessels in umbilical have become inactive. If any chick has come out with bad naval
dab some white sugar on it to kill germs and stop the bleeding. The alternative method
is to use a drop of honey and then tear off corner of kleenex tissue and cover the honey

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 7:49 am

ok well you know what, ill just post pictures soon give me a little time

mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 2:48 pm

sorry bout pics, my comp doesnt wanna work... ok if egg is movin a lil with no sound except for a lil scratching, how long before piping?

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 3:19 pm

mustang wrote:

sorry bout pics, my comp doesnt wanna work... ok if egg is movin a lil with no sound except for a lil scratching, how long before piping?

probably in next 24 hours.Once a chick is active you should be able to see plenty of
action with your candler. With just a simple Cool-Lite Egg Tester (by GQF) I can usually
see the beak --as a shadow. That is if the chick is in normal position and able to get to
work. Actually at the time the chick begins the long hard job of hatching the blood vessels
in the umbilical cord are still active. These shut down as the chick becomes an air
breather. Before that oxygen entered pores in eggshell and was absorbed by ossmosis
into blood vessels in membrane around the chick. These blood vessels also shut down
so chick can hatch without bleeding to death

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mustang

Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 9

Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 3:25 pm

thanks , so is it normal to be moving but with no chirping?

D C TUPA Forum Moderator

Joined: 16 Nov 2007
Posts: 887
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 3:38 pm

mustang wrote:

thanks , so is it normal to be moving but with no chirping?

You are welcome.
Movement may come with or without chirping. The shock of the first air in lungs may cause
a cry of surprise or pain in many species. Or they cry out while struggling.
A normrally positioned chick can show much movement under candler but if head is locked
between legs there is a very tiny bit of movement of muscles where neck joins body.